Narrative About Drivers

Millions of people drive each day, some heading to work, some to vacation destinations, some to entertainment, and some just for fun. Within these millions, there are all types of drivers; aggressive, passive, new, experienced, and elderly to name a few. The elderly comprise of more than 40 million people age 65 and older in the United States and of those 40 million, 34 million are licensed drivers (NHTSA). Elderly driving has become an alarming subject throughout many communities in the United States as it concerns the safety and health of themselves as well as other drivers. One article shares, as 80-year-old Daniel was driving to the grocery store one day, he ran over a curb and hit a trash can. Luckily he was not hurt and his car suffered only minor scratches. Although unscathed, Daniel was emotionally distraught having almost hit a young woman waiting at the bus stop (Older Drivers). This story as well as many others has triggered a crucial debate about the rights and well-being of senior drivers. Most people believe these older drivers should have an age restriction determining when they should and should not be able drive. However, getting older does not mean people lose all capability to drive. In opposition, driving and health tests should be required at the age of 65 to prove they are capable of safe driving rather than revoking their licenses.

I remember it like it happened yesterday. It was a warm sunny day on October 27 2013, and we were driving to my sister Amy’s house in Kaukauna. We had to drop off a set of bunk beds at her house for my niece Mia. My dad, mom, my sister Anna, and I were all in one car, while my two brothers, Andrew and David, were in the Ford Ranger ahead of us. We were having fun in the car, talking, laughing and listening to music, until we came up on a yield sign. My brother Andrew proceeded through it first, when a black Envoy came speeding around the corner, too fast to slow down. When Andrew saw it coming he tried to swerve, but the car was going too fast, and it was too late. The car hit the truck,

An extreme number of research and data have pointed out that teens are not equipped with safe driving skills. These numbers have lead to countless arguments between teens and adults. All though teens are more interested in their phone then a car they still have a desire to get onto the road. The car offers an immense amount of self conscious and maturity to a teen. This is one of the main points as to why teens are so eager to get out on the road as soon as possible. If and when they do get on the road they look right past the consequences that may occur with driving at such a young age. Without a doubt teenage drivers are very inexperienced when it comes to their first trips on the road because the only prior training they can get is practice

Evidence from the personal experience of teenagers is used (“…young drivers, only half said they had seen a peer drive after drinking…nearly all, however, said they had witnessed speeding…”); collective evidence (“It’s become a sad rite of passage in many American communities”); statistics (“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that neophyte drivers of 17 have about a third as many accidents as their counterparts only a year younger”) and (“Between July 2004 and November 2006, only 12 provisional drivers were tickets for carrying too many passengers”). The author also used common mores on teen safety; (“…parents will tell you that raising the driving age is untenable, that kids need their freedom…perhaps the only ones who won’t make a fuss are those parents who have accepted diplomas at graduation because their children were no longer alive to do

Over recent decades, driving has almost become a necessity to many young adults since some jobs require a farther commute and colleges are not located in every town. Driving is a privilege and many people neglect this privilege by developing dangerous driving habits. Some of these include speeding, distracted driving, road rage and driving under the influence. In today's age people live a very fast paced, rushed lifestyle. Speeding is becoming a problem because people are impatient. Speeding decreases your reaction time for avoiding collisions and is becoming a profitable scheme for law enforcement through speed traps. I speed all the time and realize the dangers of doing so. I have not been in a collision yet or been pulled over by a police officer because they could not keep

I approached the vehicle and asked MD why she was driving without someone 21 years of age in the vehicle and she informed me that she just wanted to hang out with friends and watch the fireworks. I asked MD if anyone in the vehicle had consumed alcohol and she told me no.

It's Friday, March 25 in the morning at about 7:00 am when my mom wakes all of us up to get ready to leave. On the way to Minnesota we were driving, but still in suamico, we stopped at a Kwik Trip gas station to fill up the tank. We all were thirsty so we got a water from the cooler in the back of the truck, but my brother Roy spilled his all over himself and on the seats.”Good thing it's just water.” My mom said. As we drove across the imaginary line splitting Wisconsin with Minnesota there was a big rock carved into the shape of Minnesota that said, “Welcome To Minnesota.” When we were on the highway we almost got into two major accidents, the first one was when we had an open lane ahead the driver to the right of us tried coming into our lane right next to us and put our left two tires

Multiple studies and surveys show how deadly a vehicle can be when the driver is a teen. Teenagers are given a responsibility at the age of sixteen that they are simply not ready for. They lack the ability to stay focused on the road, and often times get distracted by cell phones or other objects inside the car that more experienced drivers know to avoid. Fortunately, the negative impact that teen driving presents can be altogether halted. Teens can find alternative ways of transit such as buses or asking family members for a ride. Mandatory driving programs can be implemented which focus on helping teens prove they can be responsible, trustworthy drivers. Most importantly, the legal driving age can be adjusted to twenty one to ensure all drivers retain the right knowledge for safe

In the article, “Teenage Drivers? Be Very Afraid” (2016), Bruce Feiler, writer for the New York Times, insists parents to “get much more involved” in their teenager’s driving life and in the progress increase the chances of them driving more safely. Feiler conveys the idea of safer driving by juxtaposing a variety of parent involvement in a teenager’s life (“back off” versus “get more involved”), by providing statistics and evidence of possible perils (motor vehicle accidents), and by establishing certain rules that their child must follow (no use of phones). Using advice from doctors, the author emphasizes the importance of parent involvement in order to influence teenagers to bring driving violations to a halt; in fact, Feiler believes that

It was a brisk foggy afternoon that was soon to turn to night. John had just waved by to all his friends at the party. It was a thirty minute drive home down some back roads in the country. Five minutes down the road it got dark and foggy, John was trying to get home as fast as he could safely. He was surrounded by open fields and corn fields on all sides. Then before he knew it his truck started to stall for an unexplainable reason. John immediately started to panic but tried to stay calm the best that he could. His truck came to a complete stop and there he was on a back road in the middle of nowhere. The only thing that he could see in front of him was a mailbox with a long drive with cornfields on both sides. John had no other option in the world

On October 31, 2017, my mom expected me to be home by 12:00am. I was driving at night and noticed that I was only forty-five minutes away. I thought about taking a shortcut through the woods. The roads appeared to be working after being reconstructed. The only thing that caught my attention was a sign. I looked at the sign and noticed that I had to be careful of how I drive. I normally drive 60 mph on highways. Sometimes, I go faster than that. I took exit 240 to get home. Ten minutes later, another sign appeared. On this sign, it mentions construction ahead. Since the road was fine, I thought it would not matter. I drove straight down the road without being nervous. I suddenly had a phone call from my mother. She asked, “Where are you?” I told her that I was only ten minutes away.

One of the main reasons that teenagers are involved in accidents and commit traffic violations is that when teenagers start driving, they are inexperienced. According to The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), “crash rates are highest during the first 500 miles of driving” (The Anatomy 1). This means that due to the inexperience of teenagers, there are more crashes during the early teenage years of driving and the number of crashes decline as they gain experience. Furthermore, countries in which the legal age to obtain a driver’s license is 18 or above, there are a higher number of crashes in early years of driving (Anatomy 1). This research supports that “practice makes perfect,” meaning that as teenagers practice driving, they gain experience and

(2011) investigated the psychosocial factors involved with risky driving patterns associated with adolescent novice drivers. Simons-Morton et al. (2011) installed computerized recording systems in the vehicles of newly licensed adolescent drivers that measured their driving patterns, and the traits of their passengers. The results indicated that accidents and near accidents were significantly lower when in the presence of responsible adult passengers, and significantly higher when in the presence of fellow adolescent passengers (Simons-Morton et al., 2011). In addition, the results indicated that adolescent risky driving was significantly lower when in the presence of responsible adult passengers than when in the presence of fellow adolescent passengers (Simons-Morton et al., 2011). Lastly, Simmons-Mortons et al. (2011) found that overall risky driving was highest when newly licensed adolescents had risky friends as passengers. With the use of confederates and a driving simulator, a similar study by Quimet et al. (2013) proposed that adolescent drivers would participate in more risky driving patterns when in the presence of pro-risk-taking passengers than when in the presence of non-risk-taking passengers. However, the results were mixed in that safe and unsafe driving characteristics were found in all conditions and no significant difference was found between the driving patterns of adolescents, regardless of the traits of the confederate passenger (Quimet et al., 2013). A common limitation related to both of these studies is that the sample size was quite small only possessing about 40 participants. This may make the findings difficult to generalize to the population. Another limitation that may make the findings difficult to generalize to the population was found in the latter study with Quimet et al. (2013) in which the researchers only utilized male volunteers. Also, the use of only one passenger in both of these studies may

Teens need to be taught that driving is a task that is complex and demanding. Parents know how much experience a young driver has, and they know exactly how inconvenient it is when they have to drive with their teen everywhere while they have their permit. Teens tend to cause most traffic accidents in adults’ eyes. They are not experienced yet, and often fail to pay attention to others on the road. They often think of a car as being some type of toy, but they do not know how powerful it really is. The driver education programs must be strengthened in order to make sure that students really have safer habits, behind the wheel experience, and by having a better understanding of all the laws on the road.

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teens and young adults. More than 5,000 young people die every year in car crashes and thousands more are injured. Drivers who are 16 years old are more than 20 times as likely to have a crash, as are other drivers. There are two main reasons why teens are at a higher for being in a car crash and lack of driving experience and their tendency to take risks while driving. Teens drive faster and do not control the car as well as more experienced drivers. Their judgment in traffic is often insufficient to avoid a crash. In addition, teens do most of their driving at night, which can be even more difficult. Standard driver's education classes include 30 hours of classroom teaching and 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training. This is not enough time to fully train a new driver. Teen drivers are more like to be influence by peers and other stresses and distractions. This can lead to reckless driving behaviors such as speeding, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and not wearing safety belts. There is no safe amount that you can drink and still drive. Even one drink can influence your driving offences. “Nowadays, drunk driving has become driving while intoxicated, driving while impaired, driving while under the influence, operating while under the influence (impaired, intoxicated, or whatever), and in many